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Topic: Weeping at the Sight Glass (Read 2133 times)

Al nailed it. They replaced mine and it has been fine ever since. Probably a sloppy install at the factory. I like SB's circlip idea or even a dab of glue before it does anything nasty. Kevin was concerned because of past failures but said they haven't seen it on the UCE. Probably the same installer.

OK, i have to mirror Andy on this one. Last thing I want is catastrophic failure doing 65, 200 miles from home. TW, i know you're about 200 miles away from Ron's. You think you will be able to get it up to him in time for the run? I'm going to keep an eye on mine as well as they both may have been manufactured at the same time in India, probably on friday. Keep us up to date.

Thanks for all the replies. I am thinking about givin it a go myself, looks like just nuts and bolts, no special tools required. Remove the side case, press the old one out, press the new one in. Need to do an oil change anyway. The only part that I am a little fuzzy on is the wires right next to the oil cap. Easy does it, I got lots of time, plenty of tools. Worst case scenario, take it to a local cycle shop and beg. Ordering parts tomorrow.

I had also entertained putting a "retaining ring" over the glass (PVC tubing would do well ...) and securing THAT with a couple of small button head screws on the perimeter. It wouldn't take much to get peace of mind. That design is a total rookie mistake, I think ..... I was absolutely STUNNED that it went in from the OUTSIDE .... stunned ...

it's no secret that the BMW boxer motor that came out in 1994 has hadmore than a few outside install sight glasses go "pituuui"and dump all the oil. they install from the outside as well.unofficially, they should be replaced around 45k miles unless the bike has been allowed to superheat from idling for 30 minutes or so.they didn't change to a circlip retainer until probably 2004/5.no drama. we drill a small hole on the clear plastic, use a slide hammer with a machine screw to pop it out. a custom PVC tool drives in the new one.the RE does require pulling the engine cover tho.

I would stay stock. There are many, many UCE's not leaking.The bmw's give you a telltale sign as do the RE's it appears.If you're the type that doesn't know every nut and bolt, and every rattle and wiggle of your bike, you would own a Honda. RE owners are very connected to thier bikes so when you polish the aluminum or snug down a loose nut, peek at the sight glass and call it good.Using a glue or sealer is risky. Yellow weatherstrip glue goes pliable when hot, silicon gets slippery when bathed in hot oil. The beemers require the new glass to be installed dry, or with whatever residual oil is on the hands. They don't want hot oil causing a second pituui either.For folks really concerned, toss a sight glass in the tool kit or tape one to the inside wall of the electrics box and call it good.

I would suggest RE to replace the "push in" type sight glass with a "screw in" type, so that there is no possibility of loosing it suddenly. They could also use a high temprature thread locker at the factory.

Leaning heavily toward doing the repair myself, advice/assistance will be greatly appreciated. I am the second owner = no warranty, nearest Enfield is over 100 miles away. I never got around to getting a shop manual so I am depending heavily on support from this forum.

When I remove the side case what am I going to see in there? Is there going to be a bunch of springs, and BB's fall all over the place or is the case just a cavity for oil?

Leaning heavily toward doing the repair myself, advice/assistance will be greatly appreciated. I never got around to getting a shop manual so I am depending heavily on support from this forum.

When I remove the side case what am I going to see in there?

Terry:

The service manual is worth having for DIY projects. According to that, there are 11 Allen screws on the RH cover and there are 2 dowels. The cover may need gentle tapping to remove because of magnetic attraction between rotor and stator.

Manual recommends that the wiring coupler of the stator (which is attached to inside of RH cover) be removed from the wire harness before removing the cover. Below is a link to a video that has some views of what you will see when RH cover is removed. The video was made by an Italian RE dealer who has two RE EFI repair videos.

Al nailed it. They replaced mine and it has been fine ever since. Probably a sloppy install at the factory. I like SB's circlip idea or even a dab of glue before it does anything nasty. Kevin was concerned because of past failures but said they haven't seen it on the UCE. Probably the same installer.

Gee - None of the OTHER bikes ever had site glasses on them ...... and the engineers in India HAVE seen the glasses pop out ..... I ain't sayin' - I'm just sayin' .....

not that it affects me, but r u saying the oil sight glass is pressed in from the outside using a rubber grommet type fitting? do they use a adhesive? the sight glass for other manufacuers, r they done the same way?

Yeah - The sight glass is pressed in from the OUTSIDE and has rubber around it to secure it. There is nothing on it but friction to hold it in place - and therein lies the problem - when oil gets past it, it lubricates it and allows it to pop out under pressure.

The tool I used was a small tube roller for installing tubing in boiler sheets. Basically, it crams a copper tube into a groove for a tight seal. I just ran the roller around the soft alloy until I had enough of a groove to retain the clip that I found in the toolbox drawer. A good machinist should be able to cut a groove pretty cheap as it is FAR from a precision operation ..... at least it was in MY case! Haha!

geeze, well whose lame brain idea was that..of course its going to blow out..overtime the rubberis going to lose it elasticity and there she blows like the white whale except its not sperm oil...funny how it takes awhile to c what defective engineering design crops up (not that they would admit too)...luckily their a cheap and effective fix by the technician scooterbob...